Crimson Shore: The Gold Detectives by Gillian E. Hamer

Genre: Crime/Mystery/Thriller/Detective

Description:

A half-naked woman dead in a ditch. A disappearing pathologist. A teenager is run off the road. For a peaceful island, Anglesey is experiencing abnormal levels of crime. What’s the connection?

DS Dara Brennan has women problems. His boss, Amanda Gold, is embroiled in office politics and his wife thinks he’s a disappointment. And then there’s DS Kelly Jones.

As missing-person cases become murder enquiries, Dara must put aside his personal life and focus on the killer’s trail. The only tenuous link between the victims is an abandoned children’s home. What happened there, twenty years ago? And who is hell-bent on revenge?

Dara is keeping his eyes on the road. But he forgets to look in the mirror.

Crimson Shore is the first novel in The Gold Detectives series set along the North Wales coast.

What is the book about?

Bodies are found on Anglesey and detectives investigate.

Is it a series?

Yes, this is book one. The others are  False Lights and Sacred Lake

Is it easy to read?

Yes, very.

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Karen’s Review

I had this on my kindle for a good few months. I tried to win it in a Facebook competition, but didn’t. Then I read that it was based in Anglesey, an island off the North Wales coast and more importantly where I live. So I bought it and then forgot about it.

If you are a regular reader you’ll know I’ve said before I don’t do series. As in the previous reviews, I hadn’t realised it was one, but luckily this one the first of three available. I’m not going to say that anymore. I do read books series, but it really has to be a book I fall in love with and for it to be a stand alone. This one was, but I have to confess I’ve now downloaded the next two because I want more!

Dara Brennan is a detective working under DI Amanda Gold – very possibly the Gold in the title, although I don’t know until I have read the next book. Dara is promoted to DI and Amanda is working with him as he becomes the Senior Investigating Officer. I like the fact that there wasn’t any animosity and she and Dara get on well. As it’s his first time leading a team after his promotion, he is on unsteady ground until he gains confidence.  He makes a lot of mistakes, but he is learning and I liked that. Nobody is perfect first time and Dara is very likable.

Anglesey is a fairly big island, not in the grand scheme of things, it’s actually quite small, but there are different coastlines. I am not too far from the main port of Holyhead which takes the ferries over to Ireland.

This could very well have been based in another part of the island, but to my absolute delight, it’s centred around where I live. The places the author names and where the detectives travel is my home ground and I know them all. Then to top it all, one of the suspects lives in my road! I was amazed and delighted and from a personal point of view, I loved it as I had travelled down the roads mentioned and even walked where one of the victims was attacked.

But you, who may not have heard of this area will also enjoy it for different reasons. The author’s descriptions are spot on and that’s why Anglesey is also well populated by tourists in the summer months. We have some gorgeous beaches and stunning landscape, so if you have never been, you can also experience it all from the pages of this book

All this could have been irrelevant had the story not been very good, but it was great, it had everything a thriller reader wants. Good characterisation, great setting, excellent storylines with creepy and haunting paragraphs. The reader likes to realise things for themselves and when we do, we are eager to turn the page. I read none stop eager to find out what the story was and to put to bed those niggling doubts and spine-chilling worries I had about what was really going on.

This has never happened to me before, but one character was kidnapped and was going to be murdered. It upset me, I liked him. He wasn’t a main character, just someone that the detectives had interviewed. I became really worried that he was going to be killed before he had a chance to be rescued. I also worried about his dogs and strangely his health because he was an older man. His back story emerged a little and it was intriguing. I won’t spoil what does happen to him, but if you do read it, look out for Ableyard.

This book wins my top book of the year – storyline – great, characters – great and the setting, perfect.

As you can tell I loved it and if I could give it more than five stars on Amazon I would. This evening I shall be starting on book 2.

So if you are interested in learning more or buying this book, then the link will take you to the author’s page on Amazon where you can see all her books for yourself.

Buy Link